Apr 19, 2018 3 min read

West Greene School District is hiring a school resource officer with the help of $180,000 from Consol Energy.

West Greene academic director Jed Hamberger said the district reached out to Consol following the Parkland shooting in February that left 17 dead. The salary will be covered for three years, the company and school district said in a release.

Consol will pay $60,000 per year for the position over three years, and the district will also pick up the additional costs.

“They took on the majority (of the cost), to be honest,” Hamberger said. “I don’t know that we could have done this without them.”

The total cost of a school resource officer is $70,940 annually, not including benefits, Hamberger said. The salary is set at $50,000 a year, and Social Security, retirement and worker’s compensation make up the remaining expenses.

The school has taken a hard look at school safety this year, though the need for a school resource officer was laid out in the school’s safety plan three years ago. However, the district was not able to fund a resource officer at that time.

Consol Energy spokesperson Zach Smith said one of the major factors in funding the resource officer came when the company realized the lengthy law enforcement response time to a rural district like West Greene, which has all three schools on one campus near Rogersville.

Smith added since their mining operations run through much of the district and with many employees living in West Greene, the funding made sense.

“Everyone really rallied around it,” he said.

The officer will serve as “the first line of defense in the event of an incident,” as well as serve as a deterrent to crime. The officer will also conduct programming in the schools for alcohol and drug education and help reconfigure safety policies if needed.

The position has been posted on the district’s website at www.wgsd.org/employment–80. Hamberger said the district is receiving applications at the district office and school officials have not yet begun conducting interviews.

The timeline for putting the resource officer in place depends on the quality of applicants, Hamberger said. School officials hope the board will approve the new hire by the end of this school year or at the start of next school year.

The school is also looking at applying for some grants to cover safety and security equipment, namely replacing the entrance of the high school. The entrance is an older style, and not as secure. Hamberger said the goal is to replace it over the summer if they can secure the funds.

“As educators, it is our responsibility to ensure students’ safety and well-being for the duration of the time they are entrusted to us by their parents,” Hamberger said.